Posts by Nancy Williams58

So, in this whole "Teran affair" mess, Canada basically folded again. Just typical.

It’s just another perfect example of how schizophrenic their politics really are. I can’t even remember a single time they actually stood their ground in an international court. It’s honestly no wonder they spent years running away from that border dispute with us, trying everything to force us into arbitration—only to end up having to bribe the damn thing anyway. 🙂

I mean, at least they’ve got a sense of humor. They're even throwing in some anti-corruption rhetoric for good measure.

Dennis Hall41 said:Of course he is. Mann is a total master of atmosphere, especially when things get dark at night. Just look at those nighttime scenes in L.A. during Heat, or that general vibe in Manhunter.

One more thing—since you brought up his work with actors, I’d say he has this incredible knack for highlighting the beauty of his cast, or at least their most striking physical traits.

Think about Amy Brennemann and Diane Venora in Heat, or even how Al Pacino and Robert De Niro looked more glamorous in the 70s than ever before. Then there's Susan Sarandon and Daniel Day-Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans, the whole crew in Manhunter—especially that quirky wife and weird son from Willow—and the entire cast of Miami Vice, which is such an underrated flick...

Yeah, but look—he builds that atmosphere specifically by leaning on the actors and making sure the audience actually gives a damn about the characters.

Take Heat, for example. That movie would never have been as good or as atmospheric if he hadn't managed to flesh out and characterize every single person in that lineup. He pulls off this brilliant move where he shows the killers and robbers in these private moments, dealing with real problems and desires, and that's where the atmosphere comes from. You get atmosphere when you actually care about what's happening, not when the villains are just cardboard cutouts getting shot at the end of the movie.

Even that massive final showdown on the streets—it only works because you don't see just some robber, killer, or cop in every character; you see actual flesh-and-blood people with real personalities. If he had just focused on the technical side of things, it wouldn't have hit nearly as hard.

It feels like you and I are saying the exact same thing, just from different angles, Dennis Hall41. 🙂

True, I'm with you on Miami Vice. It feels like the movie paid too much homage to the TV show, so everyone assumed they were the same thing, when really, they aren't even close.

Dennis Hall41 said:I honestly think this movie would’ve hit its full potential if Michael Mann had directed it—like, if he’d shot it somewhere right after The Last of the Mohicans. It could’ve easily been a perfect ten, the kind of masterpiece you’d find mentioned in the same breath as The Godfather, Vertigo, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tracker, Scarface, or Chinatown. To me, those are basically the peaks of Hollywood filmmaking.
Or, here we go again, back to Mann and his untouchable, beautiful Manhunter.

It was practically made for him, Maestro Mann. This sits somewhere between an 8 and a 9 for me, though I gave it a 9 in my IMDb diary.

Look, I know Mann would’ve squeezed every bit of juice out of the chemistry between Kristofferson, Hurt, and Walken. He probably would’ve leaned even harder into the atmosphere too—more night scenes, more mood—and maybe swapped out Cimin's slightly manic obsession with wiping out farmers for even more poetic, visual moments.

But then again—would people even call it a leftist film if Mann had been behind the camera?

Hmm... Atmosphere and Mann? Sure, I get that, but Mann’s real superpower is actually working with actors and fleshing out characters, from the leads down to the supporting cast. You see that most clearly in The Last of the Mohicans, where you wouldn't necessarily expect deep character development, yet the side characters play such vital roles and he never lets them slip into the background.

I’d say Mann would have added that one missing dimension to this already great film, and then we’d be talking about a total masterpiece.

Morgan Rodriguez57 said:Everyone talks about German antisemitism, but French history is a bit more overlooked. It was actually France that pushed Jews toward forming a global Zionist organization and seeking their own homeland in Palestine. During WW2, the French authorities were incredibly efficient at handing over any Jews caught on their soil straight to Nazi concentration camps and death camps—something they try pretty hard to sweep under the rug.

Where on earth did you get the idea that French antisemitism isn't well known? It’s common knowledge, for crying out loud. Half the country basically rolled out the red carpet for the Germans; they weren't just willing to cooperate, they were practically racing to implement racial laws before the Nazis even officially asked them to. 🙂 And when it came to handing people over, they didn't hesitate for a second. If anyone told you they were itching to do it, they wouldn't even be lying.

It’s not even that they’re hiding it, they just hate talking about it.🙂

Jonathan Phillips4 said:I’m so verbally aggressive and quick with my tongue that he’d probably wish we were just in a fistfight instead.

Yeah, sure, just like every other anonymous keyboard warrior out there

I can't even begin to wrap my head around what they're pulling now. It’s like watching a slow-motion train wreck where everyone knows the crash is coming, but they just keep adding more fuel to the fire anyway. Honestly, it's exhausting. You look at how things are being handled—it's pure chaos, nothing more, nothing less. Just total, unadulterated messiness from the top down.

Charles Carter4 said:And honestly, who even cares about their little showdown? Why on earth should PBS be broadcasting a face-off between two people who are basically just auditioning for the role of head of a criminal syndicate!?🤦

I mean, seriously, why would a Republican network even bother broadcasting a pathetic little showdown between two guys just clawing at each other to be the next leader of the Republican Party? It’s honestly ridiculous. 🙂

Maybe you should try rephrasing that question.

I honestly can't wrap my head around it. Like, seriously, I just don't get it. You can agree or disagree with someone like Stier—he’s a politician, after all—but why on earth would he stoop so low? It’s like he’s choosing to share a toilet with guys like Kovač and Penava. No matter how much I try to dig into their motives, it just makes zero sense to me.

What a load of nonsense. Whose project would it even be? Look, when you’re building something from scratch in a brand-new country—especially one coming out of a system where there was only ever one single structure because it was a one-party state and not some actual parliamentary democracy—who exactly is supposed to handle the heavy lifting of nation-building, forming new parties, or setting up the government? It’s obviously going to be the existing structures, simply because they’re the only ones that ever existed.

Everything, and I mean absolutely everything, is a leftover product of the Communist Party USA and those old power structures. It literally can't be any other way, unless you want to believe some little green men just dropped out of orbit to set things up in America.

The current structures have two choices: they either lean into this new reality and work on building the new state, or those people pack up and leave so someone else can step into those same roles. But let's be real—those same structures will ultimately end up trying to reshape things to suit them or just snuffing certain parts out entirely. That's just how the game is played.

Absolute perfection... Seriously, Kapadia has this insane knack for picking the exact right scenes, those raw facial expressions, and those split-second moments that nail the vibe of what's actually happening. You could see that same magic in Amy too.

There are stretches in here where the footage is just mesmerizing. Like, take that interview during the flight over to New Orleans—when the reporter asks him what he’s expecting, he basically says things got totally unbearable in Barcelona and he’s just looking for some peace, something he couldn't find there. 🙂

And man, that look on his face when the first question at the press conference is about the Camorra 🙂 It says everything you need to know—just total "WTF, what have I gotten myself into?" vibes.

"Honestly, it’s been a hell of a year for those gritty documentaries exposing predators—everything from that R. Kelly doc to the Neverland mess... even that one about the two Popes." 🙂

Sam Green73 said:I've decided I'm not going to penalize trolling anymore.
If everyone else is playing dirty, then fine, I’m joining the party too.

BTW, solid work on this thread 👍

So, basically, I’m in a thread where there’s actually a specific place meant for pointing out your ad hominems, your insults, and the blatant lies you're spreading—backed up with actual examples—and you just slap the "trolling" label on it.

Also, let's be real—you shouldn't even be the one responding to this. Someone above you should be handling it. That seems pretty obvious, right? When it comes to your own behavior and those cheap shots you take at people, you can't just act as your own lawyer and defend yourself like this.

Let someone else make that call, not you.

Morgan Peterson said:That’s exactly why I think we need to keep bringing up this little "detail" from Trump's background instead of just deleting posts that point it out.

The reason they scrub stuff like that is pretty obvious, but let's not get bogged down in it right now—even though you basically spelled it out in your own post, probably without even realizing it.

Can we get a head moderator to step in and actually start sanctioning these ad hominem attacks and insults? Look at moderator Sam Green73—if anyone tries to call him out, he just starts handing out bans left and right based on his own twisted rules. Honestly, if he applied his own logic, he’d be banning himself, because he’s been hurling insults at people for way less than what he's doing right now.

This isn't how a moderator should act.

Check these examples from today alone:

Clearly targeting the women on this forum:

People are voting against Zoran Milanović and the Republican Party's little losers.



Just take a look at how he talks about your proteges.



the guy who might jeopardize making it to the second round is someone capable of hitting a woman.

northerncrane4 said:Are you two seriously messing with me right now? Like, I find it hard to believe you actually missed the point of what I wrote. You've gotta be kidding. Just admit you're trolling!

I'm bored, at least. No clue about him.

northerncrane4 said:It’s just pure escapist decadence—these CGI spectacles being churned out under the guise of "total visual realism," even though they don't have a single shred of actual substance. I honestly can't find one solitary reason why anyone would sit through this garbage, and seeing how much money they flushed down the toilet for it just drives me insane.

And what kind of "touch of reality" is Cats supposed to have? 🤣

A musical about Cats that—get this—actually sing. 😵

Jose Edwards16 said:Honestly, I actually find a weird kind of "art" in that trashy country music.
There’s this trailer park nearby having a massive blowout right now—and the speakers are just blasting pure, unadulterated country garbage...

Look, if you go by that logic—that art is just whatever you personally can't stand—then you're basically saying actual musical art exists simply because there's always going to be someone on this planet who hates it. It's a mathematical certainty. You could pick any genre, any niche, any category under the sun, and there will be some guy somewhere who thinks it's total noise. People hate rock, they hate jazz, they hate opera, they hate light operettas, they hate pop, they hate country, they hate metal, they hate hip-hop, they hate rap, they hate dance music, or whatever else you want to throw at it.

You really need to learn how to read with actual comprehension instead of assuming I said things I never even touched upon. 🙂 Where did I ever claim that every single taste is equally high-quality? No. I said everyone has their own preference, but none of those individual tastes serve as some universal yardstick for quality. Besides—let’s actually define what we’re even arguing about when we use the word "quality" in the first place.

Just because you don't see cathedrals as art (regardless of your subjective vibe), doesn't mean they aren't. And yeah, trashy pop can be considered art too.

Whether or not you personally consider cathedrals to be art is completely irrelevant to the rest of the universe.

It’s like saying: "The US lost the World Cup final, but in my mind, they're the champions." Your statement doesn't turn that event into a fact. You're just taking something that isn't a reality and defining it as one inside your own head, but that doesn't magically change the outcome. It’s still just a fantasy.

Charles Ramos4 said:I'm with you there, even if my point wasn't actually aimed at you. 😉

I get it, just adding some more context here.

Charles Ramos4 said:Look, clothing is just another commodity, sure, but that doesn't mean everyone actually has the sense to dress themselves right. 🙂

Yeah, true, but even if you're rocking cheap, basic stuff, you can still put together a killer outfit if you know what you're doing.